New Politics, a group focused on supporting candidates from a background in service, is launching a multi-million dollar effort to recruit thousands of candidates over the next four years. And the co-chair of the effort said it will come when the country is facing a “moment of political leadership crisis.”
“When I talk to my members, they feel that we have a fundamental lack of leadership in the country right now, desperate for integrity, courage, reliability, candidness and integrity, and they don’t feel that.” “This is an exception, not a rule for both parties.”
According to an announcement shared with NBC News, Ryan is co-chairing a new recruiting effort for the $20 million group, aiming to recruit 5,000 candidates over the next four years. With a nonprofit and political committee style skill, the new politics is bipartisan and has worked with some Republicans, but most have worked with Democrats.
Ryan, an Army veteran, said he was not in Congress without support from the new politics that was established in 2014 to recruit candidates from military and service backgrounds, including Peace Corps and American alumni, and that he would help them navigate running for offices.
Emily Cherniack, founder and executive director of the group, who is also an Americanorps alumni, said the recruitment campaign had a “Ancle Sam Needs You” type of atmosphere, promoting the marketing campaign and staff focused on the effort.
Cherniack said the group remains open to cooperation with both parties, but has “a very red line around democracy” and is currently not working with Congress’ GOP candidates. The group was working with former MP Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who resigned from Congress last year.
Ryan said the candidate’s new crop could include federal workers and others affected by the Trump administration’s efforts to significantly reduce government efficiency and the size of the federal government led by Elon Musk. Ryan said he had lost his job or spoke with several potential candidates at agencies affected by “wrecking ball.”
“There’s a great opportunity around people who’ve been catalyzed and mobilized by all the harm that’s going on and the disruption of the Second Trump administration who wants to get off the sidelines. A lot of people who’ve been fired from their jobs, or were influenced by cuts and their families,” he said.
Ryan and Cherniak see an increasing energy among potential candidates, but burns are slower compared to the surge in interest from potential candidates following Donald Trump’s first election in 2016.
“It took a little while for people to get there. We see an increase in energy,” Cergnac said. The reason we launch this campaign with the “Uncle Sam is making you a need” type of atmosphere is because we think we have to just keep up the pressure and continue to get a pipeline of people who run the next cycle or the next cycle. ”
More than 30 elected officials are taking part in the new political recruitment committee, including six other members of Congress who have worked with the group in the past. Among them is Rep. Jason Crow of D-Colo. He is also a recruitment effort for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The party’s campaign committee has its own recruitment program, but Ryan said the new politics “fulfills” the “large gap in our ecosystem, frankly” when working with busy primary candidates that the party might want to remain neutral.
Ryan said he lost a busy race in his hometown when he worked with new politics in his first failed run in Congress in 2018, due to the Democratic Congressional nomination. He was elected an executive in Ulster County and won a special election for the home in 2022.
Ryan said the new politics “takes risk early on with the right candidates when the DCCC and others are getting much more cautious.”
“And this is the moment when we need to lean towards supporting these kinds of candidates. We’re not careful,” he added.
